Teen Years and How to Survive Them
by The Prince of Space
Summary: (Secret trio) the Norrisville Ninja seems to have a bone to pick with local ghost punk Invisobill, Danny needs to fend off these new bounty hunters before they ruin his reputation— or become corrupted themselves.
1. Chapter 1

**_Hello all, this is my first ever cross-over fic, I hope you enjoy it! feel free to ask questions and leave feedback! ~Cosmo_**

Zipping through the sky, Danny felt the heat of a plasma blast barely graze his cheek. He was seriously not in the mood for this. He had Lancer's creative writing period to look forward to already.

Actually, they both did!

Danny flipping onto his back to address Valerie to her face yelled, "DON'T YOU HAVE SOMEWHERE TO BE," then thinking quickly he added, "KID?"

He continued to berate Grey, "I'm dead and I have all the time in the world! Are you so into me that you cleared your whole day planner?"

The response that followed was three more blasts from her plasma rifle. The phantom figured he deserved that.

"There's nothing that will stop me from kicking your sorry behind back into the afterlife!" Val screamed.

What was supposed to be a rather routine Box Ghost apprehension turned into a spiral that attracted not only the likes of Valerie Grey but also Skulker— the ghost zone's model of a huntsman.

He rounded the corner zigzagging through a clutch of apartment buildings, "hey at least my death is more eventful than your social life!" Fenton quipped again.

Perhaps Danny was being more vicious in his insults today because he truly did not like fighting Valerie at all. He had grown exhausted of trying to justify and explain. All she wanted was for him to hurt for what he did to her father. A now humiliated scientist. For the ghost, it sometimes felt like she had it easy, at least her dad had a reputation to destroy— unlike the Fentons.

She was his friend on more than one occasion— and his almost more than a friend. It wasn't like he had his heart torn out by her, but they, unfortunately, both lived in parallel. What they wanted… just wasn't possible.

Every time he saw her dawning her helmet, Danny couldn't help but think of how he led her here. Through his own mistakes, he put her here, and he's going to pay for it as long as he had his powers. As long as he had the will to stand up for others. Valerie was just too blind to see that in the end, they both wanted the same things… perhaps he was just too naive to think that people had enough ability to dive deeper within themselves. He couldn't help to try and view himself through the reflective surface of her visor.

What did she see him as?

It didn't matter— Val needed him to hurt.

Being uncharacteristically silent for one of their usual run-ins, he glanced under his arm to see if she was still chasing him.

Slamming himself chest first into the sharp pointy end of Valerie's hoverboard. His tangible body caught itself against the metal the momentum of flight still sending his feet pitifully forwards. That was certain to leave a bruise. He could've sworn he felt his sternum vibrating.

Somehow she had cut him off and went around in front of him.

"Actually Ghost-boy, would you believe I just caught myself a date?" She growled menacingly, wrapping her fist into his collar.

"Please don't say you have a date with Justice because then we've gone full comic book."

A looming voice had pierced its way through both of their ears, "Well well, we have the predator, and we have the prey…"

Danny cocked an eyebrow, "are you using predator in the plural sense? Because she's been kicking my butt longer than you ever have!"

Skulker suddenly appeared floating above them in the sky, hand on his wrist panel toggling his tangibility cloak.

Valerie quickly spun a laser pistol from her belt— mercilessly firing a beam through Skulker's jet pack wings.

Skulker's whole body began to jut forward and back as any control he had over his flight pattern was deflating. The balance that was achieved by the twin jets sputtered out like a whimper— Skulker was then sent in another direction yelling out for help.

Blowing the steam from her pistol Grey chuckled, "So, where were we ghost boy?"

Danny tried to activate his intangibility only for Valerie's gloves emit sparks of electricity— he screamed in pain, kicking his legs futilely.

Trying to maintain the illusion of confidence he chuckled, "Well… clearly, we weren't at the part of my daring escape, tell me, are the gloves new?"

She spoke through gritted teeth in a low growl, "I'd like to say it's been fun—"

"Glad we're on the same page."

"Goodbye ghost boy!" She pointed the laser pistol to his chest.

The barrel pressed into him— she wasn't going to miss this time.

He felt no need to close his eyes despite being in mortal danger, he just stared at her. Almost daring her to do it. Valerie didn't have the guts. All talk. That suit wasn't filled with a human being, but bussing words and vague threats. No bite.

Out of nowhere—

"You mind if I cut in?" The voice dotted his question mark with a sword being launched through the air and landing into the brick wall. Aim impeccable. The sword had sliced the space between Danny and Valerie's faces. The hilt blocked them from seeing each other's eyes. The only sound to be heard… the quiet hum of the hoverboard. Danny tried adjusting his head within Val's tight grasp

The pair glanced up to the rooftop parallel to them. A figure cloaked in a dark suit that inhaled the light. A scarlet scarf fluttered in the autumn breeze.

The scarf barked to Val, "Hey, he's mine."

"That's funny," Grey sneered through the mask, "I don't see your name on him!" She pointed the gun to the figure, "Why don't you move along? I think an alternative store is missing their mascot."

"Ouch wicked burn there, Salmon."

Danny feeling a bit like the third wheel piped up, "Uh sorry, do you have friends outside of me?"

No longer asking questions Valerie took her shot. Before the beam could reach her target, the figure pulled something out of his pocket before throwing it on the ground.

"Smoke bomb!"

Black billows of smoke with pink sparks flickering in the burnout. The beam cut through a cloud, not colliding with anything but the vapor.

"Where did he…?" Valerie asked no one, voice slightly wavering.

Another question floated into the air, "So did you get my joke? I feel like you guys missed my joke."

Valerie screamed, dropping Danny. He fell for a few seconds before remembering that he could indeed fly… then he slowly rose back up. The phantom was also curious to see where this was going.

the figure was now sitting on the blade he had stabbed into the brick wall, "Hey."

Valerie swiftly pulled out another pistol pointing one at the figure and one in the bridge of Danny's nose.

Danny retaliated by forming an energy ball with his pointer finger, aiming his right hand at Val, then aiming his left at the figure.

"Wow, call this every party I've ever attended because I'm overdressed," the stranger cackled overdramatically, removing a chain sickle and shuriken from his belt. The chains rattled and clinked together minimally as the stranger whipped them up in windmill.

Eyebrows furrowing, the Phantom felt his eyes ache as they lit up furiously— he just wanted to get to class, granted he hated saying it. But that was the only thing he set out to do today and that was to complete Mr. Lancer's stupid poetry assignment! Danny mumbled, "I believe this is called an impasse kiddos."

Valerie's weapons could be heard charging with a sharp automatic ping, "I concur."

Tension swam around them as eyes passed to eyes, glances to each of their hands. No one was trembling, they all possessed the confidence in their abilities to school each other. One of them had to move, someone had to light that fuse. Something had to give way. Though they all remained as still as statues in a graveyard.

"HEY!" The window of the building opened and an angry woman began to whisper scream at all three of them, "My kid is trying to sleep, SO IT WOULD MEAN A LOT IF YOU THREE TOOK A HIKE TO THE LOCAL FREAK CONVENTION!"

The three students put away their weapons, bowing profusely apologizing.

"You," the woman scolded," Invisobill this is why everyone thinks you're annoying! Being a big nuisance! JUST GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT, IDIOT!"

The mother began to go pink in the face, as she set her sights on Grey, "Hunter girl why don't you go solve actual crimes?! Jesus Christ our only problems in this town are crazed ghost hunting fiends like you tearing up the skies with your tortured backstories!"

Leaning further out of the window she pointed to the stranger who now looked very sheepish nearly dropping the chain as he was slowing its spin " And you…" she trailed off, "I DON'T KNOW WHO THE HELL YOU ARE, BUT YOUR SWORD IS THROUGH MY CUPBOARD!"

"IF YOU KIDS AREN'T OUT OF HERE IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES I WILL CALL THE POLICE… and if my kid wakes up, I'll kill you all myself." With her tirade concluded she slammed her window shut.

Disappearing in an instant with the snap of his fingers, Danny bid the both of them farewell, "To be continued, nerds."

The stranger queried absentmindedly, "Can you kill ghosts twice?"

"WHY DON'T YOU FIND OUT?!" Valerie pointed both plasma guns at the stranger, her visor now reflecting not a new target but a new problem.

The stranger jostled the chain sickle in his hand, "you know you guys are pretty fun, I don't actually get a rise out of my usual gallery."

"Excuse me?!"

Recovering from his sudden detour, Skulker swung back in the fray, blocking out the rising sun. A shadow was now cast on the two budding rivals. Suddenly Valerie could barely see the stranger at all, the black suit became indistinguishable from the brick wall.

"WAIT! Where's that ghost child?! I can't sense him." Skulker announced in a demand, awash in total befuddlement.

The chains could still be heard rattling. Two black lines appeared in the sky, leashing Skulker in place. The chains wormed and snaked around Skulker's robotic body. Wrapping around his neck and shoulders— he was yanked forward as the stranger swung up and round Skulker, adding another loop in the chain necklace.

The stranger kept Skulker saddled with the makeshift leash, he twisted his end of the reign around his fist. The stranger punched in a direction causing Skulker to writhe and turn to the north. The stranger haughtily cocked his head stepping on Skulker's face, "thanks for the lift, gruesome."

Grey cupped a hand over her mouth and shouted until she was out of breath, "THIS IS NOT OVER!"

"Oh trust me," the stranger declared, "I'm eagerly looking forward to the conclusion, Salmon."

Hands falling to her side Grey sighed, the sun once again was on her skin as the stranger flew off on Skulker's body. She felt warm from both the light and her unyielding rage.

The sword had left a hole in the apartment building wall, it was now a reminder to Valerie to always take the shot. She struck the wall causing a puff of dust to exhale from the bricks. Hand stinging behind her gloves, from the inside Val could faintly hear a baby hiccup and then break into a full-on wail.

Hastily backing away, Grey barely kept her balance on her board before rushing off to school.

—

Danny picked at the peas on his lunch tray, "I'm telling you guys there is a new ghost hunter."

Tucker looked up from his PDA, "I didn't say I didn't believe you, but that wasn't a regular old ghost hunter. What ghost hunter uses a sword?"

"I don't know," Danny admitted, placing his chin into his hand. It did seem very impractical considering that most ghosts phased through objects. But he pointed at Tucker, offering, "Well my parents would… specifically my mom… my mom would totally make a ghost hunting a sword."

Chewing a forkful of salad Sam rolled her eyes, "That's not a sword nitwits."

Danny glanced at Tucker, and Tucker glanced back at Danny. They didn't know what exactly she was getting at, it had a large blade coming out of a pommel— it seemed very sword-like.

"C'mon Tuck, you watch unhealthy amounts of anime— and you can't recognize a Ninjato?" She sighed, enhancing the image on the PDA with the stylus.

Foley smacked her hand away from his precious baby, "Watch the goods, Manson!"

"See? Look, the top of the blade doesn't end in a point like a traditional European sword."

Danny scratched the back of his head," okay but then wouldn't it be a katana?"

"Oh my god," Manson snorted, "not every Asian blade is a katana!"

Foley joked, "That's very swordist of you Danny."

Frustratedly Danny balanced the plastic fork between his fingers and began beating the prongs on the table, "So all we know about his guy is that he uses a fancy sword—"

Tucker and Sam gave him a knowing glance.

He corrected, "Ninjato, we know he uses some fancy Ninjato." He threw up his hand, "That still doesn't tell us a lot."

"Actually if either of you two had let me finish I know who you fought Danny." Tucker then zoomed out the image on his device, then turning for Fenton's review.

"You do?" Danny questioned incredulously.

"Rule one of being friends with Tucker Foley: Do not doubt Tucker Foley." He grinned smugly, "This guy in the picture matches what you've been telling us, this is him— the Norrisville Ninja."

Danny stared at the familiar costume in the photo. It shouldn't have been this easy— because it never was this easy.

There was a crowd of people in the adulation of this supposed hero. Yet what possible reason could a 'ninja' be chasing after ghosts? He couldn't help but think of Valerie, did he somehow in some parallel way perform a slight against this guy? Now this ninja was gonna bust his chops with thousand-year-old techniques of martial arts. Not to mention any other surprises he could have tucked away in that suit.

A chill shot through his spine and an icy breath forcefully exhaled through his mouth, Danny sighed, "Why don't all three of us become burdened with ghost superpowers so we all can take turns beating up the box ghost?"

Tucker closed the tab and article on The Norrisville Ninja, "What makes you so certain that it's Box Ghost?"

"Because today can't get any worse." Danny dove under the table, a bright flash of light and he was totally gone. Tucker and Sam would've covered for him normally but it was pretty crowded considering that it was the big county student switch. Everyone was distracted and abuzz with tinny rumors that sounded like the chatter of a lottery ball being picked.

Few lucky students from around the state were randomly chosen to… to deepen community ties? To broaden career opportunities? The goal of the program was unclear. Either way, a bunch of weirdos was picked from a bunch of weirdo schools, and they were supposed to stay for a week or two.

Paulina, Star, and Mikey so far had been switched.

Sam noticed that among the newcomers there was another goth. While she craved the comradery she didn't want to appear as if she was attempting to trend set. This week she didn't want an attempt at all, perhaps amid the hype of students, she could try to slip her phone number to this goth. But she didn't want to look as if she was hit up for friends with common interests.

This goth was dressed in a top hat with a bob cut, eyeliner, pale pearl foundation and long dark blazer which was the broke person's pass at steam goth. Sam admired the classy vintage style.

Her eyes following the hat being shuffled through the crowd. Manson shook Tucker's shoulder, "Tuck."

Tucker responded with a zombie-like," uh-huh."

Elbowing him sharply in the gut, "Tucker!"

"Jeez!" He grunted," What?"

"That steampunk goth kid is coming over here," She said in the most deadpanned excited voice.

Craning his neck Foley scanned the cafeteria before spotting the ugly hat, "Oh yeah, I guess that strange swinging pattern could be predetermined to be our direction."

Manson sharply pulled on his beret temporarily blinding him, "Smartass."

The crowd broke as a lanky Japanese kid broke through the mass of bodies, on his head a neatly decorated crushed navy blue velvet top hat with a shrunken skull adorned on the front with a singular feather poking out from it. His outfit was not immaculate, in fact, this kid looked like he had slept in his clothes the night before. Sure the clothes were dark but a bright red T-shirt with a narrow white stripe in the middle? It did not coalesce, Sam thought. The boy was positively effervescent with joy and happiness uncrushed by the capitalist system.

The Japanese kid ducked and weaved through the other lingering students, calling after someone," Cmon Julian! You almost had me that time!"

Immediately afterward the out of breath goth kid spilled out of the mouth of the crowd, "Randall! Please!"

"With Howard gone," he leads the goth kid to the front of Sam and Tucker's table so it felt like they had no choice but to listen in," you're gonna have to keep up with me. I'm gonna need a co-grave puncher, I'm gonna need a player two."

"I did not consent nor did I volunteer for that position!" The goth snatched his hat from the top of the taller kid's head.

"Oh! What if I called you Jules?" The boy slung his arm around the goth kid, "Y'know to cement the whole friend thing?" He spoke out the side of his mouth, "You kind of owes me after that doctor's note thing."

The goth shoved the boy away and stormed off, adjusting his hat and feather to be the most aesthetically dreary and gloomy.

Now alone, the boy snapped his head toward Sam and Tucker's table.

Sam refused to make eye contact, while Tucker the gardener of the grapevine of Casper high— the foreman of the rumor mill if you will— gawked unapologetically.

Ramming her boot into Tucker's shin, he yelped in pain and glanced down at the table. However, the damage had been done.

The boy inched his way between the seat and table," is this spot taken?"

"Yes!" "No!"

… Sam glared at Tucker as hard as she could manage without cracking her cakey foundation around her eyes.

"Uh… okay," he stuck out his hand, "Randy Cunningham, ninth grade."

"Tucker Foley, also ninth grade."

"Sam Manson, don't care."

Randy maneuvered deftly to the other side of Danny's tray, taking a seat. He grinned pleasantly closing his eyes


	2. Chapter 2

"No way! You have a Mcfist phone?" Foley exclaimed in wonderment.

Randy absentmindedly checking his email for his handler's email address to provide more information about the hunter girl. Sam was positioned behind Tucker close to the window. Tucker was fixated on the tech in Randy's hand. Randy thought that the kid was going to start drooling.

Cunningham was assigned the only seat available was toward the front, almost right in front of 's desk. Randy froze, now with all eyes on him. A few girls in the back giggled and whispered with their words only being identified in their mocking tone.

The new environment allowed Randy to reinvent his image, at least posture like he wasn't a social disease back home. So far, not so bruce.

Rising from his desk Mr. Falluca sighed," Mr. Cunningham, is it?"

"Uh, Randy Cunningham, ye-yeah," He agreed, nodding with trepidation. Real cool, Cunningham. If Sam wasn't already doing it for him, he would've facepalmed.

, lowered Cunningham's book shield," I'm not sure how they run the ship at Norrisville high , but Casper High has a policy on student devices." The science teacher pointed to a sign next to the door, with what appeared to be a wavy creature that bore a resemblance to both a wave of electricity and a ghost.

Randy felt his eyebrows scrunch together and he lowered his phone, "Oh I-I'm sorry about that, won't happen again." He smiled innocently.

"Don't make it a habit, Mr. Cunningham."

The door burst open causing several students to jump in place assuming the worst- that a ghost had entered the building. Unknowingly, they were half correct. Danny slammed the door shut- grass stains layering up on his shirt, hair disheveled. Randy thought he saw him earlier, with Sam and Tucker, though it was like he suddenly vanished into thin air. Danny definitely stood out now. His shoulders were tensed and raised as he was trying to gulp down breaths. Danny had been running. Randy briefly removed his hand from his chin, curious.

"Speaking of habits," rolled his eyes, arms crossing his barrel of a chest sternly," Mr. Fenton, pleasure for you to finally join us."

Huffing hard, Danny casually stole a bottle of water off the front desk, the girl sitting there didn't even look startled when he did it. After downing the whole bottle and tossing it into the trash.

"I hope you're prepared to entertain us all with your wild excuses of how you were locked in the janitor's closet, or how your well-off sister Jasmine forgot her car keys," Mr. Falluca glared down his nose at Danny," or you were chased about the library by the ghost of Pointdexter, I think we could all use the laugh."

Danny opened his mouth, but then caught himself- there was a body now filling his seat. He caught himself looking at Randy, then feeling his frustration with the day boil under his skin causing his skin to prickle.

"I… see, there was this- uh, a guy and-" Danny then blinked now his frazzled expression now replaced with indifferent determination," Okay, okay, I'll tell you the truth,"

Sitting up, and inching toward the edge of her seat, Sam gave him a pleading look grab Danny's attention.

"I was attacked by a fire breathing dragon! I was thrown in the dumpster out back, and woke up before the trash truck compressed my body like a soda can!"

The room was now auspiciously quiet, say for a pencil rolling off a desk near the wall. The students then broke into the same teasing mumbles. They were in a vacuum of confusion, disbelief. Randy had heard from the email that strange things happen in amity park, but he initially thought it was only of the ghost variety.

"Fenturd, I'm surprised you thought you were good enough to be recycled!" A big blond guy in a letterman stood up, causing his chair to squeak with the quickness. Guffaws and uproarious laughter erupted from the classroom.

Randy shot a glare at the jock. Then glanced back at Danny, his entire body was tense. Randy knew what someone that carried anguish looked like, he knew very well. It was almost like a sense of his now, being empath by nature of his work. Most of the time to avoid a monster fight you had to talk down the monster from the outside. Perhaps viscerally aware that he was… a loser, Randy knew that was what made him such a good ninja. Pain can recognize pain.

Mr. Falluca after a few minutes of laughter finally broke the noise," Alright! That's enough- next person throwing a paper is going to clean this room from top to bottom- Fenton, I'll get you your detention slip, do you have a preference in color?"

Snidely Danny mumbled," Maybe get some with puppy paw prints on them."

"Should I get a set of complementary colors if you're going to back sass?" Fallcua pulled out his desk drawer, grasping a pad of notes, all of which had the name a cause of punishment filled out on them. Name: Danny Fenton, grade: nine, cause: excessive tardiness.

"Since Mr. Cunningham was here on time," Falluca gestured to Randy, who sheepishly scratched his head while sitting in Danny's chair," I welcome you to take an extra chair from the back and sit up here with me to make sure you cause no further distractions."

Danny narrowed his eyes at Cunningham.

"Hey teach, I can just sit on the floor," Randy offered," No cruel and unusual punishment required."

"Mr. Cunningham don't waste the energy," the teacher scolded," you'll find in your two short weeks that Fenton here can lie to you straight in the face, that he'll have you believe that two plus two does equal fish."

Danny trudged to the back of the room dragging a chair from the back muttering," You write a joke in your notes one time." - not bothering to pick it up as he might as well let the negative energy radiate and fester.

Falluca lamented to Cunningham with unnecessary harshness," I think you best keep your nose clean and stay away from any Fenton you can, there's your first lesson."

Randy could feel Sam's equal if not greater anger aimed at the base of his neck, a shiver went through him- Sam wondered if her Wiccan powers were working, and the vision in her head was being projected. Her hacking his head off with the Fright Knight's sword and watching his head splatter like a rotten pumpkin.

Though Randy's own guilt still could be felt clenching his chest, outweighing Sam and Danny's dirty looks.

Since Danny now blocked Falluca's view better than any textbook could. Randy knew a few things already, one was how to be annoying, though he also knew that he couldn't pull this off without a little bit of Weinerman magic.

_Rander-roo: Hey Howard, can I ask a favor?_

_Howard-the-hoe: Favor of what variety, Cunningham?_

_Rander-roo: I need you to call me r.n._

_Howard-the-hoe: r.n-r.n?_

_Rander-roo: r.n-r.n._

As the three dots disappeared and reappeared Cunningham almost let out a groan.

_Howard-the-hoe: Okay._

He smiled to himself, he loved how Howard no longer asked questions anymore.

Within thirty seconds of receiving the okay from Howard, Randy had switched his phone from silent to full blast, then the phone began to vibrate against the desk before belting out-

"WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOPEE-WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOPEE-WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOPEE!"

Randy felt a devious smirk stretch into his cheek. He kissed his fleeting good-boy reputation goodbye and was welcomed back in a warm embrace to rock-bottom. He let the phone cycle through two more rings. He didn't need to look up to even know that he was being observed with scrutiny. When he finally lifted his head, Randy presented a 'who, me?' face before saying facetiously," Oh… Oh, that's me, I am sorry, excuse me, I have to take this."

Dragging the phone across the desk he put it up to his ear before loudly announcing," Go for Randy, let's get Randy tonight, Randy speaking."

So, of course, they had to invite Randy to the Nasty-Burger, of course, they had to invite him to the booth. After the epic display of flagrant authority punking they've ever seen, it had earned Tucker's respect, with Danny and Sam's tolerance.

The first thing that the group noticed about Randy was that he loved to talk. Though what he chose to talk about was rather superficial. It was more like he was a page out of 'relatable teen digest'

'What do you do for fun?'

'Oh yeah uh, video games.'

'Favorite subject?'

'Lunch?'

'Favorite hangout?'

'The Hole Arcade back in Norrisville.'

That particular answer stumped the three of them because they couldn't figure out which hole he meant or was referring to. It seemed like everything reminded him of something else. He spoke in paragraphs about various adventures he went on- though perhaps Sam could tell when someone was carefully omitting something like they were blacking out a document with names and locations. Whenever someone prodded too close Randy would then do something or say something outrageous to distract from the topic. Typical deflection. Sam had witnessed Danny use it on his parents many times before, but why was she the only one who could see it now?

Sipping her diet cola, Manson kept her suspicion shushed, and tongue clamped firmly between her teeth.

The laughter from another classic Randy anecdote had died down, Tucker sighed," Sucks about your Fist Phone though, it had a touchscreen and everything!"

Randy dismissively waved his hand as stuffed another handful of cheese-filled bacon-wrapped bacon fries into his face," No sweat bro, it ain't the end of the honkin' world."

Eyebrows were reflexively cocked around the table, watching Randy wolf down food as if what he said wasn't the strangest abuse of a verb in English history.

"What?" Randy gawked back at them," You're all staring at me like this food isn't the absolute cheese!"

Tucker adjusted his glasses," I think it's just burgers."

Sam quickly checked her recyclo-veggie tofu melt for lactose cheese.

"No, no like- in Norrisville we kind of use this slang that's like…" Randy thought about it for a second," you know its a local thing, like it gets updated every few years," He didn't mean to sound so intellectual about it, but he thought it was interesting," of course but it's really just sort of really gross combination of New Jersey and California accents. I'm actually kind of impressed it hadn't migrated up north to here."

Tucker felt his head go to one side," I don't know a lot about linguistics but that doesn't bode."

"I'm tellin' you man, it's legit," Randy opened up another container of heartburn sauce," Oh hey, I was pretty excited for the switch week, so I ended up buying a bunch of exclusive Norrisville tourist swag… you guys wouldn't be interested in it, would you?"

Tucker slapped the booth's table with open palms, practically yelling," HELL YEAH!"

Randy pulled his backpack into the seat next to him and unzipped it. He pulled out a few colorful bags of candy, some plush animals, and a pair of coffee mugs.

Inspecting the bag of candy Danny read the label aloud," Mcfist's Mcsquizzies?"

"I also got some Mcfistos and Mcfizzies," Randy said still rummaging a hand through his bag.

"What's the difference?" Danny found himself asking.

Picking up the packages Randy studied them for a few moments before declaring," Couldn't tell ya, other than they are totally bruce bro."

Danny repeated," Bruce?"

Affirming, Randy concluded," Bruce." Cunningham slid out of his side of the booth removing various debris from his tray," I'm gonna hit the john, b-r-b broskis."

The chatter amongst the patrons in the diner filled the lull that had entered as Randy had exited. Sam finally voicing her opinion after a record of an hour and a half," Talk about a motor-mouth. Like does he even breathe?"

"You're one to talk," Tucker remarked with a side glance," When you get going on your save the rainforest, be nice to the animals, non-fat soapbox you get crazy with it."

"Okay but Randy breaking away on a school field trip to spit into a volcano isn't stretching the definition of what a story qualifies as?"

Foley pointed his thumb to his chest," I was captivated."

The bag of Mcsquizzies in Danny's hand had its weight shifted to one side and now laid limply in his hands. He had a sudden epiphany," Did he ever mention the Norrisville Ninja in any of those stories?"

Silence fell over the table.

"Come to think of it…" Tucker began.

"I don't think he did." Sam stared up at Danny with dead seriousness.

Danny was skeptical and opened the bag of candy," There's no way though, right?"

It's never that easy.

"Speaking of the ninja…" Tucker tried to wrangle in his admiration of Norrisville," back in Falluca's didn't you say you were attacked by a dragon? Is Eudora or Aragorn acting up again?"

"Oh yeah- I forgot I had that meltdown." Danny shrugged," That's the thing, it was actually living dragon."

"What?! How could you tell?" Sam nearly yelped

Danny glanced over his shoulders, before producing the Fenton Thermos from his backpack looking worse for wear the lid was caved in on one side," Well, I tried using old reliable on him."

"No way," both Sam and Tucker said in unison.

"Definitely alive, and definitely wanted to kick my ass."


	3. Chapter 3

Randy did regret getting his phone confiscated, as it was the only way to keep in touch with Howard aside from breaking out his laptop to answer every single IM. Though considering how the staff reacted to a phone, he didn't want to imagine what they would do to his personal computer. Security at Casper wasn't what he expected. At Norrisville since it was an inner-city school it had metal detectors and guards performing pat-downs.

There was a clatter of from the hamidashi after Cunningham adjusted his clothes.

"Oh c'mon, this stupid… ancient holster!" Acting fast before anyone came in, he snatched up the knife from the ground. Rolling up his pant leg up to his knee.

"WELP! YOU WILL LET ME OUT IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BECOME MY COAT RACK!"

Randy snorted, looking down at the blade which housed the ghost between the walls of the double-bladed steel. Sticking his tongue out at his prisoner. He could hardly believe how easy it was to capture ghosts versus destankifying the sorcerer's monsters. Granted there was no way he could've found this missing weapon in the ninja's armory without his handler.

_Gētokīpā no hatana _

As it was labeled in the care package along with the file on Invisobill.

He placed the knife back in its sheath, then tightened the leather band around his calf before camouflaging his jeans back over it.

Making brief eye contact with himself in the mirror, Randy messed with his hair somewhat and began washing his hands. He hoped that what he was doing wasn't obvious, granted it's not like anyone in Amity Park had an attachment to Invisobill, but the bribes certainly had to help.

How should he phrase it? 'So where are the local haunts?'

Genius Cunningham. Genius.

Rehearsing the lines in his head, the metaphorical script being jostled and the actor in his brain reciting in an echo chamber, he didn't hear a few others enter into the men's room.

Sneakers squeaking against the checkered and chipped linoleum floor.

"Well, well gentlemen, looks like we got the king of the misfit rejects of Norrisville high. Lanky Runningman."

Randy briefly blinked, processing what he just heard, he let out a nose laugh. Continuing to wash his hands, he ignored the lumbering heard of jocks, all of whom were patting each other firmly on the back for their cleverness.

"Hey, you listening Runningman? I'm talking to you."

"You think you can just come in and take Mikey's spot? He's our prime nerd to pummel, but I guess we'll just have to make do with you."

Rolling his eyes, obvious enough so the pack could see him, Randy loudly began pumping the paper towel machine. Recognizing the leader of this pack as the same blond jerk from Falluca's class.

Upon fully turning around, he offered his hand," Oh sorry, Randy Cunningham, nice to meet you, and you are?"

"Me? Well, you can call me your beat down, Dashell Baxter."

He did give him the opportunity Randy sighed. Cunningham calmly placed his hand on his chin— retracting his stretch of the Olive Branch," That's funny."

Before allowing Dash to pipe in some dim-witted comment, Randy continued eyeing Dash up and down," I knew someone like you back home…"

"I'm sure you know a lot of people cooler than you Runningman." Dash high-fived a couple of his buddies for moral support.

Circling around them with predator instinct, Randy guffawed smirking," I guess so, but he had the same vacant expression, stupid voice,"

Dash's expression dropped from that of menacing joy to beet-faced anger.

"...the same probability of working at a gas station for the rest of his life—" Randy opened his arms as if to rub in the fact that he wasn't afraid," you wanna know what his name is?"

"DEAD!" Dash roared, charging toward Cunningham. Like lightning striking the ground all that could be seen as a blur of color. The rubber soles of his shoes stretching against the damp floor.

Throwing the loosely wadded paper towel directly to Dash's line of sight. The resting face wore Cunningham hadn't switched at all, as he stepped out of the stampeding bully's path.

The satisfying noise that came from flesh and bone being smacked into the aluminum metal of the bathroom's stall had reverberated through the entire restaurant.

"Actually, his name is Bash," Randy stated, shutting off the sink's faucet.

The jocks quickly parted to each side of the bathroom, allowing Randy to exit," I trust you guys can pick up your trash on the way out."

Perhaps as a display of victory, he held the door open as the jocks carried Dash out for all of the patrons of the Nasty-Burger to see. Blood was leaking and staining Dash's White T-shirt, he whined," You broke my friggin' nose!"

"You're overreacting," Randy said," I didn't break your nose... you broke your nose." He closed the bathroom door behind them, stepping back into the bright ambient sunset filled diner. The burning orange light bouncing off the tile, the sun was spotlighting Cunningham. Danny's jaw fell open, Tucker stared directly at Randy in absolute awe, and Sam's neutrality had a crack of a surprised smile when she saw Dash writhe in pain.

Randy slapped a fist into his hand triumphantly," Norrisville kids don't play around, you get me?"

Everyone immediately went back to what they were doing, if it wasn't a ghost attack that meant they could go back to eating undisturbed. What this town needed was perhaps just the normal petty trouble that any small town gets into— such as teens brawling.

Nearly standing up Danny demanded out of shock," What the heck was that about?"

"Ah, that? Wasn't anything," Randy dusted himself off with an air of fake humility.

"You gotta pretty big grin on your face for it being just nothing." Sam attested.

"He went to punch me, but he slipped and fell, there were witnesses."

"Right," Sam incredulously agreed.

Tucker said matter of factly," I'm going to marry you."

Causing the table abruptly fall into laughter.

Randy scooted back into his side of the table, briefly, his eyes fell to his bag. His expression shifted slightly— it was minute, a flash. Sam noticed though.

Shoving his bag to the floor under the table almost annoyed— he went back to the facade he had been leaning into the whole afternoon," So, as you all know— I'm a bit of a reckless youth."

"An American daredevil," Manson crossed her arms and raising her eyebrows.

Danny pointed at Randy with a french fry," You're crazy enough to fight Dash and win."

"It was a fluke," Cunningham placed a hand on the back of his neck," honest."

"... so this Invisobill dude I've been hearing about…" he began drawing circles on the table with his straw wrapper," since you guys are locals… you wouldn't happen to know where he hangs out?"

Danny coughed a fry stuck in his windpipe. Sam quickly got Fenton his root beer. While Tucker came to rescue with," Us? Nah man— we don't pay attention to stuff like that— we hate ghosts!"

Excitedly Randy balled his hands together," Please? Oh, bodacious smoking hot, please? What do I gotta do? Do you guys gotta haze me first? Do I need to say his name three times in a mirror?"

"No— god no nothing like that, jeez!" Fenton swallowed down.

Tucker continued to run interference," Why do you want to meet Invisobill so bad?"

"Ah C'mon I have to explain it?" Randy prodded," Isn't he like a tourist attraction around here?"

"No!" All three of them protested at the same time.

Randy deflated," you're breaking my heart here, all I wanna do is meet a ghost and get an exorcism—" he whined," it's on my bucket list."

Danny would've been flattered if what Randy said wasn't totally weird. Danny took another sip of his drink thinking of another excuse to dissuade Cunningham from pursuing the Phantom. Fenton shrugged," You want to be possessed by a dangerous criminal? Even the guys in white are after Invisobill."

"I don't think he's as bad as everyone makes him out to be," Randy put his head on his arms resting on the table, looking up at the three with puppy eyes. He just needed a scrap of information— a fragment of anything.

Sam outright refused," Are you crazy?"

"Give me one good reason!"

Danny found himself looking at Sam, Sam looked at Tucker, and Tucker looked at the ceiling—

The bell at the front chimed furiously as a woman burst in screaming," DRAGON, HUGE— EVERYONE RUN, ITS A DRAGON!"

"Sam, Tucker-" Danny looked at his friends before half announcing," I'm going…"

Randy's stunned face was attuned to the front entrance, but Danny couldn't take the chance, however," I'm going to... go get help!"

Danny launched himself over the table, then leaped over Randy's head. Going through the fire exit.

Where Fenton went high, Randy dove under the table hugging his bag to his chest- and that was the last Danny saw out of his peripherals. Crashing through the double doors, into the alleyway- which thankfully was vacant. The outside looked as hectic as inside of the Nasty Burger.

The two pale blue rings washed over his body almost automatically. His bones burned and bent- the melting sensation that was all too familiar traveled in jolts and sparks in his nerves. Within a blink: Danny Fenton became Invisobill-

Er, Danny Phantom.

Dammit, Randy.

The gaunt crimson snake of a dragon had returned.

Phantom took a second to assess the situation, he took cover behind a parked car. He was taking peeks at the carnage- as it felt like every time he popped up the dragon conveniently whipped up some debris towards his head. The dying sun behind the town's taller buildings, the shine from the dragon's scales was hazy, almost making the dragon itself appear as heat mirage.

The dragon called out," Alright, Invisobill I know you're around here somewhere!"

Danny rolled his eyes. Of course. Biting the bullet, the phantom popped through the classic convertible. Danny replied," Over here, skinny!"

Snapping to attention, the dragon exhaled a cloud of smoke with a growl. Then large wings raised into the sky, casting a large shadow across the parking lot, and over Danny.

Instinctively he quickly switched to intangible.

A crack noise had cut through the town as if the population wasn't even a factor. Not enough bodies to absorb the sound.

In a sonic boom, the dragon harpooned itself onto the distracted phantom. Its claws digging into Danny's shoulders which shouldn't have been possible. The dragon could still somehow interact with him despite being…

"You could've just stayed down, dawg," The dragon sneered," Afterall you should know dragons can still beat the stuffing out of ghosts no matter what form you take."

As they began to climb into the air, faster and faster- the ground seem to expand- the once big things now shrinking too rapidly for comfort. The air had difficulty reaching Danny's lungs that high. Though the thing that seemed the most unfathomable was that a dragon used the colloquialism,' Dawg'. If he wasn't fighting for his life he would've put that so on blast-

Danny grunted out, barely hearing himself over the sharp cold wind rushing past his ears," I guess that goes both ways?"

Then pressed his feet into the dragon's narrow chest- almost counting the ribs through his shoes. He fired an emerald ectoblast from his boots, escaping the dragon's grasp- executing a backflip.

A risky idea entered into his oxygen-deprived head, it was certainly stupid enough.

Woozily, he staggered in the air- pointing at the dragon, he taunted," You know, you've got to be the smallest dragon I've ever seen!"

"You look like you belong on a hotdog bun! With relish!"

The dragon flapped its wings in thought," Are you serious-"

"Ladies and gentleman- I've found the world's largest shrimp!"

"Short jokes? Huh?" The dragon insisted it scales bristling, anger sharpening in the sheen of the light," You got short jokes?"

"Well if I had tall jokes I wouldn't be using them."

The dragon's eyes widened before narrowing with intensity and charged again. Crashing into Danny's svelte frame the dragon then changed trajectory- now sending Danny speeding toward the ground.

Burying its claws into Danny once again this time right below his ribs, squeezing him like an infectious tick.

Stealing a glance back over his shoulder the Phantom spotted the roof of the Nasty Burger. This was going to be fun, or really really interesting, Danny held the thought at the front of his consciousness.

His head fluttering- brain jostled by being tossed like one of Sam's salads- the pressure of the air flexed in his body- he let out a battle cry.

The intangibility, spread from the center of his chest out- crawling up the dragon's arms- covering the dragon's intimidating wings.

When Danny came to, he was in the rubble of the restaurant. A table knocked over in front of him, which explained the raging pain in his hip. Still, in ghost mode, thank god, Danny stood up, breathing deeply.

"Aw man!" The dragon cursed.

Glancing up Danny admired his handiwork, the dragon was submerged halfway through the ceiling of the Nasty Burger, his lower body stuck. Effectively trapped.

"Is everyone okay?" Danny shouted into the dining hall.

There were various grunts and groans from patrons. Okay enough.

Sam emerged from the cashier's counter. Tucker eventually came out after hiding but lingered in the open, snapping pictures of the dragon.

The dragon's arms hung by its head pathetically," Ey dawg do you mind?"

"Not at all," Foley posed for a selfie before the flash timer off.

The dragon, hissed- trying to take a swipe out of him, but Tucker ducked under the dragon's claw.

Gesturing to the creature, and opening up the floor to his friends," What are we gonna do with this thing?

Sam shrugged,"... well if he's alive…"

"It's not really our department, is it? Dealing with live dangerous creatures?" Tucker pointed out in the form of a question.

"Can y'all not see that I'm right here?" The dragon pointed to itself," Did the talking dragon just suddenly start talking to hisself?"

"Well, we can't just leave him here!" Danny insisted

"That's funny I think he'd make a good artist statement on overhunting."

Danny glanced at Sam," Dude, what the hell man who's side are you on?"

The question garnered a response by way of a glare.

Norrisville Ninja appeared from behind a caved in section of booths, rather comfortable- unbothered," Uh, over here, Billy Idol."

"Fantastic another clown for the circus," The dragon pouted, turning his serpent body counter-clockwise to get a better view of the next opponent," Oh, Invisobill when were you gonna tell me you were seein' other people?"

Danny blinked in a sense of Deja Vu- hadn't he been here before?

The ninja rolled his eyes," Implying that you were smart enough to win in the first place, dragon."

"Yeah, you say that because you're right-side-up."

"Uh, yeah, no duh."

Danny attempting to defuse the situation, put his hands up signalling the pair for their attention," Look guys, you're both handsome, I'm just afraid we're all no good for each other."

A glowing knife streaked through the air past the Phantom's hand. The knife shot past, sending a shiver through the ghost's body- as if he couldn't get any colder. The knife spoke in tempting whispers and tortured screams. Plunging it into the back wall, Norrisville chided himself for missing," Let's cut to the point Inviso."

The dragon spewed a plume of fire toward the Ninja- the threat was now shifting. Norrisville's scarf caught the edges of the flame, which he sought to beat down. The flame couldn't break the material of the scarf, it was just a human reaction. Rather ungracefully he stumbled back, putting weight on his already injured leg. The Ninja unburied his own foot from the rocks his whole body shaking from the sudden adrenaline, not to mention the building being brought down on him.

Then he smirked beneath his mask- he whipped his scarf toward Danny, wrapping it around his neck. Yanking him forward into a headbutt.

The Ninja hopped over him, extracting the Gētokīpā from the wall. The fire on his scarf now chilled just by the temperature of Danny's body- and the ghost was still reeling from the blow, rubbing his forehead.

Spinning the knife stylishly, the ninja entered into a power stance," look, this is nothing personal, but you're going down."

Foley always the intellectual piped up with," That's more of a Samurai thing than a ninja move if you're working for someone- are you working for someone?"

"You guys are some eager beavers, aren't you?" The ninja spun out his chain sickle with a vicious speed.

Danny still opened for another hit, Sam climbed up a small pile of rubble, shielding him. She said nothing but tried to find his eyes, to find any source of humanity in the black suit.

"That's real cute, goth girl." The ninja admitted because she clearly caught him in a moral quandary- he couldn't hurt an innocent, and despite the make-up and garbage-y attitude she was a civilian. However-

"Let's bring down the house, then." Norrisville lassoed the chain around the dragon's chest, then heaved with all of his body weight. The dragon dropping onto the ground, the ceiling being reduced to crumbs and fiberglass around them all.

After the dust cleared, the Dragon had taken to the skies once again- the ninja was gone again. And Danny- ugh Danny was about three seconds away from collapsing in a heap of exhausted bones and essay dread. The fog from the debris provided enough cover to allow Danny to switch back, unnoticed. In all the commotion someone did call an ambulance.

Despite the total destruction of the Nasty Burger, only two people were injured.

Randall Cunningham: broken ankle, concussion, cracked ribs

and Dashell Baxter: Broken nose.


	4. Interlude

_**I'd like to take this time to acknowledge the praise I've gotten! Thank you all very much for your support, Mintcatbush, Andy-ships-all and many more! I will try to update as frequently as I can- all these updates for this story are occurring because I'm striking as the iron is hot.**_

_**I'm also taking this time to address wherein each timeline this story takes place; **_

_**ADJL: post-season 2 **_

_**DP: post-season 2, post Reality Trip, pre-season 3**_

_**RC9N: post-Ninjception, pre-finale **_

_**Thanks ~Cosmo**_

* * *

"So you still wanna meet Invisobill, Randy?" Tucker inquired, walking with his nose stuffed in his PDA running a reverse image search on the pictures he took of the dragon.

Randy who hobbled behind the group with his newly attained crutches," yeah!"

Danny turned walking backward toward their destination," You do remember he dropped a building on you?"

"Well technically he just stuck a dragon through the ceiling, the ninja was the one who brought the building down."

"Yeah, the ninja…" Danny trailed off, this was the second time that Norrisville just took off from a fight," What's his problem?"

"Total idiot compared to Invisobill!" Randy swung forward on his crutches landing next to Danny, wincing as the weight came down on his leg.

"Hey watch it, Cunningham, we wanna send you back in one piece," Fenton clapped a hand on the taller boy's shoulder, trying to balance him out.

Cunningham adjusted his crutches," bro, I've been in a million pieces and glued back together before, I'll be a-okay."

Sam sighed," Just hope your pain pills kick in soon."

Hurriedly Randy stilted up to Sam, like a walk that could only be described as a busted-crab. He waggled his eyebrows towards her," So, when were you gonna tell me that you were dating Inviso huh?"

If she was a lesser person, she would've hit him- but since he was already down a leg and probably functioning at a quarter instead of the half brain he normally had- it would've been mean. Fighting a blush on her cheeks," You wanna see how fast your mouth runs with only one crutch?"

"Okay, Okay, touchy-" Randy chuckled, backing away from Sam.

"The dragon is new," Danny said under his breath.

"What makes you say that? I read up on some of the ghost attacks before I signed up for the big county switch," Randy recalled the rather sensationalist travel articles- the ones with mostly pictures," the dragon didn't seem that too outta juice. I mean didn't like a fourteenth-century knight attack once?"

Tucker offered," Well Amity Park is host to a few recurring ghosts, it isn't like an ant infestation where we can just set a gas bomb off in the house and come back after Dan-" he snapped on his cheeks to refrain from speaking

Danny's lips folded inward and regarded Cunningham with his eyes- just to reinforce that he should zip it.

" I mean the- Invisobill… beats them all- the same ghosts usually get out, it isn't just a- a new wave."

Randy shrugged and huffed," People die all the time; how come there can't be new ghosts?"

"That's morbid dude."

"I'm just saying," Randy tried defending his view.

Fiddling with his glasses, Foley assured," I'm not saying that there can't be any new ghosts but they're just… rare."

"Tucker's right, but it still has nothing to do with the fact that the dragon was alive," Sam said leading the pack to her townhouse.

Randy adjusted his backpack," Not to sound like a busted record but wh-Wha-Wha-Wha-Wha-wha—"

Danny playfully punched Randy in the shoulder.

"What makes you say that, our shining ray of sunlight?"

So easy, to just kick him over, and watch him flounder she thought- Sam rolled her eyes," Ghosts have certain abilities, ghosts can phase through objects, if that dragon couldn't phase through the ceiling, then it wasn't a ghost. Da- Da-finitely Invisobill knew that, and that's why he cleverly got him submerged into the ceiling."

"He could've just been stupid," Randy asserted, smirking to himself.

Sam replied with a smile," At least you'd have that in common with him." Before punching in a key code and trotting off behind the ornately designed fence to her home.

"Hey," Randy said with a pout.

"She doesn't mean it," Danny popped a few colorful mcfizzies into his mouth," At least I don't think."

"So like… You all clearly have nothing in common," Randy gestured to Sam's house with his head, still holding a look of contempt on his face.

Danny shrugged," We help expose each other to new perspectives, it helps keep things interesting yknow?"

"More interesting than living in a town full of ghosts?!" Randy exclaimed

Tapping away on his PDA Tucker spoke out of the side of his mouth," tourist."

"When in Rome, Tuck, when in Rome," Cunningham hobbled along.

"If you meet my parents you'll know why," Danny said with a bit of an exasperated smile that made his eyebrows raise, but kept his face softened. It was more like he was reminiscing on a rollercoaster at the fair he dreaded more than anything.

The evening had finally settled in, the conversation met its inevitable conclusion. Though perhaps 'conclusion' wasn't apt. It wasn't simply a matter of running out of things to talk about, it wasn't awkwardness bleeding through the paper-skin- no conversation was truly over, at least as long as there were people around to talk the subject in all manner of directions.

Clouds hung low in a thick fog around the rooftops, the moon was a claw in the sky…

A coolness that rested around the senses.

No, it wasn't a conclusion. It was three people who were comfortable enough to not need another word to add to the calm air.

Tucker volunteered to escort Randy back to the hotel the Norrisville kids were residing at, but Cunningham insisted that he didn't need to go anywhere so soon, as he had already missed curfew. So what was a few more hours?

Despite it being a working vacation, Randy was certainly having a good time.

Eventually after so many beats from the crutches and turns- The three found themselves at Danny's home.

It was a very large brick building- as if it was originally intended for apartments, given the fire escapes at certain windows. A small yard that was full of machine parts, oil puddles and a patchy ill yellowing lawn. Towering above them was a green neon sign with an orange arrow, reading 'Fenton Works'.

"Heh, look it's you," Randy nudged Danny's elbow.

"I am aware."

Tucker went ahead and answered a question that hadn't been asked," Danny's folks are ghost hunters and inventors."

"Wow," Randy scanned the building," They must make a lot of green then?"

"Ha, not even the slightest," Danny said, he was laughing but had no hint of humor in his eyes. He marched up the porch steps, almost letting on how tired he was from the three tough battles and all the uncertainty that the day had created.

He jiggled the handle, only to realize his dad must've locked the door since going into the lab. Fenton produced the spare house key from under the mat, after gesturing to the two boys on the sidewalk," Do not share this with anyone- ignore the mat!"

As the key fumbled with the others on the spare ring-

The door opened wide, letting out a nearly pure white fluorescent light. They all to shurk and shielded their eyes.

"Danny! There you are! Are you okay?! Did you see the Tv?!" a sharp feminine voice phrasing an innocuous question like a demand.

"Mom, mom, mother! I'm alright." He repeated over and over again," I'm alright."

"I don't want you out of my sight or near another fast food burger again!" She grasped her son by the shoulders shaking him up," Do you hear me, young man!?"

Randy leaned to Tucker," Does she do this every time?"

"Almost, yeah."


	5. Chapter 4

"It's wonderful that you managed to find a new friend Danny! What did you say your name was?"

"Mom," Danny groaned in embarrassment.

Randy was glancing up a wall of family portraits, mouth open and studying them closely. Almost automatically," Randall Cunningham, but everyone calls me Randy."

Danny involuntarily chuckled at Randy's ability to just morph naturally from situation to situation. Danny couldn't actually imagine taking Randy anywhere— let alone to meet his parents. Though he seemed to be doing just fine. Almost respectable.

" Wow, Mrs. Fenton— is this bombshell in the picture you?"

Okay, maybe he laid the flattery on a little thick.

Maddie adjusted her goggles slightly, modestly agreeing," Why, thank you, Randy! ... and yes that was me once upon a time."

He pointed at the old photos, "Who's this guy?"

"Oh that's Jack, my husband," Mrs. Fenton explained.

"And this guy?" Randy's finger moved from one face to another.

"that's Vlad Masters."

"Vlad Masters," Randy repeated under his breath.

Danny saw for an instant how Randy's eyes studied the faces in the photo. For the first time all day Randy has excused himself from the conversation.

" Yeah, he's like if Steve Jobs had a super handsome cousin who did nothing but aspires to own the Packers," Tucker dismissed the photo.

Danny added for extra measure," Total creep show."

Without much argument Mrs. Fenton folded her hands together," He's also Danny's Uncle."

"Neat," Randy hobbled away from the wall settled with his snooping. He plopped himself in the recliner, kicking up the footrest—

" WAIT RANDY—"

Randy paused in reaching for the plate of cookies on the coffee table," What?"

A siren adorning the top of the basement door began to bleat, and bathe the living room in blue light.

Dense footsteps came clamoring up the stairs, slamming the door open a man in an orange jumpsuit pointed a chrome device directly at Randy. The man bellowed out," The goldie-locks alarm was triggered! Who's sitting in my chair?!"

Maddie sighed and crossed her arms," Jack you had the time to install a goldie-locks alarm but didn't fix the doorbell?"

"The question still stands Maddie. Who is this strange boy?"

Mrs. Fenton walked up to the side of the recliner pressing Randy's head into the side of her hip and petting his hair," Well Jack if you went to the PTA meetings you would know that this boy is an exchange student."

Randy looked to Danny for help, while Danny was rubbing his temples in frustration.

Then in the thickest Midwest accent imaginable Jack began his introduction again," Well Gomen' Nassai bucko," continuing while over pronouncing," Welcome to our country."

Randy offered a surrendering hand," uh thanks, I'm from Norrisville."

"Can one of you shut that alarm off?!" Tucker yelled over the siren which was still letting out a monotone and robotic whine every two to five seconds.

Danny removed his aching body from the warm embrace of his couch and ducked into the hallway briefly opening up a circuit breaker. With a lasting drawn-out sigh the whole time, the sharp click of the circuit knobs were snapped into the off position.

Tucker sighed," Thanks."

Adjusting the plate Maddie grabbed Tucker a cookie. Always the smothering mother she asked," You boys are more than welcome to spend the night. After all, you've been through I just don't think it's safe for you kids to be out this late."

"I should be heading back to the hotel soon actually," Randy was itching to return to his laptop and update his handler with information… as well as waste the night away with video games with Howard.

He shrugged, "I was supposed to check in with my science teacher, but Danny was showing me the sights."

"Danny!"

Groaning with his face in his hands attempting to get an early jump on his shut-eye," Yes, mom?"

"I don't wanna hear about you getting in trouble tomorrow."

Randy realized what he said— then corrected," Oh no ma'am it was all me, I won't even mention it when I get back to the hotel."

Crawling over to the table, Mr. Fenton began to siphon the baked goods from the plate," Honesty is the best policy. However, We don't appreciate snitches in this house."

"Jack!"

"What?! You've met our son, he needs all the allies he can get."

Mumbling through his hand shield Danny mumbled," Thanks for the shining endorsement, Pop."

Randy felt the need to speak up, but clearly there were some family matters they needed to sort out.

Luckily the tv piped up, showing the images of the fight downtown. The phantom grappling the dragon— busting out some pro wrestling type maneuvers. Randy pointed at the distraction," Hey it's that ghost dude! Invisobill!"

That didn't seem to ease the tension. In fact, that was the equivalent of launching an atom bomb.

Danny shot Randy a look.

Tucker shot the same look.

'Oh no he did not'

A dry chuckle seemed to ignite the static silence," Tell me you actually have enough common sense to not follow the crowd and lap at the Koolaid fountain the rest of the town have immortalized in the image of that smug ghost punk?"

Mr. Fenton wielded his words with surprisingly sharp articulation for a man who made an alarm for when someone sat in his recliner. It was genuinely chilling, as Mr. Fenton was a very large ape of a man. Both parts brain and brawn— just no common sense to be measured.

Sheepishly Randy admitted," He saved my life."

Rolling his eyes Jack dismissed," No son, paramedics save lives. This ghost only endangers it— they all do. It's something obviously it has no control over—"

Danny's face sunk at this response.

"Ghosts attract other ghosts, whether it's a pheromone or energy they admit… ghosts are so fundamentally lonely that they create dangerous situations to increase the population— to further their own agendas. It's in the nature of death. It seeks out indiscriminately."

Despite the dourness of the subject, Mr. Fenton seemed to speak with educated confidence. He strolled over to his bookshelf retrieving a rather large— large enough to be considered nonfiction— book," here's my paper I wrote in college."

"I mean I feel like that's a lot of paper, bound together, in a boooooooooooo—"

Jack dropped the dense text onto Randy's chest which knocked the wind out of him. Bruising, the remainder of his ribs.

"Dad!" Danny rose up," He's got cracked ribs—"

"Don't forget the concussion," Tucker added while kneeling to Randy's side.

"Explains the nonsense he's spouting."

Danny pushes his dad in the center of the chest," Dad seriously! Just because— just because someone has a different— perspective that doesn't mean—!"

Suddenly Danny's fists were clenched, and his eyes flashed?

Did Randy see that right? Did his eyes just change color? It was like they were the epicenter of a supernova— they glowed with an unnatural brightness, for a second at most.

"Uh— hey it's no big deal. I can just leave," Randy stood up stuffing the book in his bag," and hey I can read up…" he shrugged," you know for my report about Amityville."

"No— Randy it's okay you can stay," Maddie assured.

Danny shouted above all them," Well clearly Dad can handle people as well as he can handle ghosts: he can't."

"That's it!"

Yanking on his sleeve Tucker hoisted Randy up pushing him out the door and away from the squabbling Fentons. Tucker shut the door on the way out making sure not to slam it.

"Anddddd that's why we don't talk about Danny's folks that much," he said flatly.

"They're scientists, I thought they would think it's cool that they had viable proof of an afterlife."

"No no— they trust me they think it's cool, only as an excuse to exercise their weapons, traps, and other devices. See in the early days the Fenton's were the first ones to propose a ghost dimension theory. They were shrugged off, of course, then one of their experiments gave this barely treatable disease to Vlad— then the Fentons lost funding, called quacks, disbarred, the whole thing."

Tucker spoke about it in a hushed voice in case somehow any of the Fenton's heard him. Quirking a brow in response, Randy thought this all sounded like a bunch of mumbo jumbo. But considering that from what was explained earlier— an afterlife didn't make a lot of sense. An alternate dimension, that had a finite number of high powered individuals who kept finding a way into the current dimension—

What a headache.

The two found themselves at the bus stop, the last bus wasn't coming for another half an hour but it was better to be in the air of the crisp night versus a warm house with a warring family. Randy couldn't relate to that, for the most part, his parents dismissed the ninja as a normal happening and went about their day. They were often so busy Randy hardly saw them as is to get their opinion on such things. He knew it was wrong but he yearned for something like what Danny had— so at least he'd have something to talk about with his folks.

"So if it's a ghost dimension," Randy led in," shouldn't it be a die-mension?"

"Dude," Tucker pinched his tear ducts," Alright that's enough tourist talk, tell me about the ninja."

Straightening his posture, Randy coyly queried," The ninja, the Norrisville Ninja?"

"No, the Broadway Ninja— yes the Norrisville Ninja!"

It was quiet for a moment. Randy hadn't shot back with one of his seemingly endless responses or deflections about it. He stared at a storm drain," Well… I don't really like talking about it."

"See for 400 years the ninja has protected Norrisville, all of it. The whole thing. We get these monsters, I want to say they're oni in origin, but there've been some European inspired ones for flavor. What no one wants to talk about is that these monsters are actually manifestations of the unspoken rage, disappointment, and resentment in the hearts of people."

"So the ninja has to destroy the people he protects?" Tucker asked.

"No not quite, the ninja has to destroy their 'fetish'—"

"Hey whoa—"

Randy learned against the glass booth, "Not like that. I mean it from the purely historical— archaeological sense, the ninja has to destroy the monster's most treasured possession or their object they worship. The soul of the person— their identity is trapped in that object. The only way to destroy the monster is to release the soul to reclaim the body."

"Intense."

"Yeah it's a thing," Randy bristled,"The people most at risk to become monsters are just people who can't control their emotions."

"...teenagers."

Randy nodded sullenly,"Yeah."

"So instead of teaching everyone while they're still young how to control their emotions, conflict resolution— counseling— so on, they just rely on the Ninja to clean up the mess."

It wasn't common knowledge, the process of how monsters were made. Only the ninja, the sorcerer, and Howard knew.

"It's created this weird culture, you have kids having gold star clubs— never turned monster. Y'know? It's— it's messed up. Like it's something that everyone is supposed to go through. Having their body removed from their control and— and—"

"Anddddddd that's why you don't talk about Norrisville." Tucker clapped a hand onto Randy's shoulder," … have you ever…?"

Randy chuckled," If I could remember I would tell you," He adjusted his bag now heavy with the weight of two larges tomes that he barely had the attention span for," Considering the exact same amount of people avoid me, I don't think I turned."

... Remembering the incident with Desiree- and then the incident with Hotep Ra- Tucker found himself carving a space in that narrative. An ignored outsider.

"It just- really pisses me off you know?" Randy admitted," I just wonder if the Invisobill guy has similar feelings, I just- I'm tired of feelin' like I'm crazy in thinking that the system is broken."

Awkwardly rubbing the pit of his elbow Tucker offered," I guess… if that's really what you want to talk to him about- maybe I can figure something out?"

Without warning, Randy threw his arms around Tucker into a tight hug his voice was wavering and fluttering," Thank you so much, Tuck! You have no idea how much this means to me."

"It-it's not a guarantee okay? He's a very busy guy!"

Lips parting, Randy broke into a large smirk.


End file.
